Roman Military Equipment
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Roman Military Equipment
 

Protective Equipment
(Roman helmets and Roman Shields are shown in a seperate section)

Roman Body Armour, Lorica and Greaves

Early lorica segmentata to the left, and lorica hamata to the right, both little statues are in the British Museum in London

Lorica:

Beyond a simple linnen and/or  leather armour four basic types of metal body armour existed in parallel:

Lorica Segmentata

lorica segmentata from Traian's column

from the Aalen Museum


Drawings from Roman Military Equipment by Bishop & Coulston, Edition 2, 2006 © M.C. Bishop

Lorica segmentata pieces currently on display at Museum Carnuntinum ( Austria, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg)
Published: Exhibition catalogue "Legionsadler und Druidenstab, F. Humer, 2006," ISBN 3854602294"

Iron bands

bronze fittings, strap buckles, etc.

Shoulder armour; Scottish National Museum, Edinburgh

Segmentata Fittings from Corbridge (left), Kalkriese (right), and Newstead (below



Drawings from Roman Military Equipment by Bishop & Coulston, Edition 2, 2006 © M.C. Bishop
 

Lorica Squamata

various shapes and forms have been found, below two examples lorica squamata

left  from Nijmegen, right from Carnuntum

Below currently on display at Museum Carnuntinum ( Austria, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg)
Published: Exhibition catalogue "Legionsadler und Druidenstab, F. Humer, 2006," ISBN 3854602294"

 


Drawings from Roman Military Equipment by Bishop & Coulston, Edition 2, 2006 © M.C. Bishop

Lorica Hamata
Roman armour made out of mail (iron rings) has survived only in fragments. Part of the equipment were however bronze devices to enable easy use such as the below examples:

Lorica Hamata pieces currently on display at Museum Carnuntinum ( Austria, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg)
Published: Exhibition catalogue "Legionsadler und Druidenstab, F. Humer, 2006," ISBN 3854602294"
lump of rusted mail armor

Hooks to close the mail shirts

 Lock to close mail armour, from various museums  (see reconstruction page for complete examples)
RGZM Mainz
Nijmegen Museum

Vindonissa Museum


Drawings from Roman Military Equipment by Bishop & Coulston, Edition 2, 2006 © M.C. Bishop
 
 

Plate of a cavalryman`s armour as would have been worn to close a lorica hamata around the neck, Carnuntum, and from a private collection

To the right part of a Cavalry Breast Armour with a soldier's name "MAXIMVS" punched in (see right border), also another soldiers name "SAVIV..." can be seen on the left. Likely this armour was used over a long period of time by several "generations" of soldiers.
 

Antonine period body armour
Drawings from Roman Military Equipment by Bishop & Coulston, Edition 2, 2006 © M.C. Bishop

Muscle Armour / Cuirass
Muscle armour was worn exclusively by high ranking officers and generals, including the emperor. A good example is the Augustus statue of Primaporta to the left (two images), and to the midle-right a statue of Marcus Aurelius of the Musei Capitolini. Note the knot around Marcus's waist (hercules knot) indicating the commanding officer. Far right another example with two griffins and medusa

 

Greaves

To protect the legs Greaves were used by centurios, higher ranking military, possibly for parade purposes. Some are highly decorated

Regensburg Museum (to the right a copy of that greave in the Munich Archeological Museum)

RGZM Mainz

Guttmann Collection
 

Fragment of lower quarter of a greave with highly three dimensional decoration

A simpler greave (protective cap for knee missing)

Vindonissa Museum: padding of a greave, to buffer hard hits. Seemingly made of leather and other organic materials

 
 

Related Sections of the Roman Numismatic Gallery:

The  Location of Roman Legions from Caesar to ca. 300 AD is summarized in a table.
Military Equipment
Military Diploma
Roman Legionary Bricks
Countermarks of roman legions on coins are shown in the Legionary Countermark section.
Coins making reference to roman legions are to be found in the Legionary Coin section.
Wars and Victories on Roman coins.
Roman Military Main Page